Many Kids Received More Plastic Than Candy or Eggs This Easter

(EnviroNews California) — Monte Rio, California — Sonoma County, California is considered one of the most progressive, green and environmentally friendly counties in the United States, but a community Easter egg hunt that went down on March 26, 2016, called the area’s green reputation into question.

EnviroKids correspondent Savanna had participated in the event and showed EnviroNews California the goods: a few temporary tattoos, some fake coins, a few pieces of candy, and a mountain of plastic Easter egg halves so large that it simply dwarfed the (largely plastic) trinkets and prizes contained within the cocoons themselves.

Dozens of pumped-up neighborhood kids participated in the event, with nearly all of them hauling away dozens of plastic egg prizes — just like little Savanna. Multiply those kids by a few dozen egg halves and the plastic footprint starts piling up.

The event took place just a few short yards from the banks of the Russian River, one of California’s major rivers that makes its way to the ocean — a connection that happens just a few short miles down the road near Jenner.

A stone’s throw away from Jenner are amazing beaches like Goat Rock — a place where EnviroNews Nature has filmed hundreds of majestical pelicans congregating near the juncture.

Pelicans, and other large fishing birds like the Albatross, are legendary for confusing brightly colored things like lighters and milk bottle caps (and who knows, maybe even brightly-colored plastic Easter egg halves), with fish, and ingesting them while simply trying to have a snack.

Dead Albatross with stomach full of plastic.

Dead Albatross with stomach full of plastic.

Exactly how many of these countless plastic eggs will make their way into the river, the Pacific, or landfills is of course unknown, but the whole event left the good folks at EnviroKids scratching their heads and wondering, “What ever happened to using good ol’ eggs in an egg hunt anyway?”

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